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Buccaneers at their best, rout
Rovers
Sunday, January 21, 2007
By BRIAN FORTNER
The Express-Times
PALMER TWP. | It's said if you swing a sledgehammer at a brick wall long enough,
the wall is bound to crack. That logic evidently doesn't apply to Blair Academy.
The Easton Red Rovers took another shot Saturday at the Buccaneers at the National High School Coaches Association
Final Four -- and for the seventh consecutive time inflicted little or no damage.
Blair (8-0) capped another impressive Final Four performance with a convincing 49-13 win over the Red Rovers in
Easton's 25th Street Gym.
"We can take quite a few positives out this event," Easton coach Steve Powell said. "This is great
for the sport of wrestling, and the kids found out what they have to work on to improve."
Blair, ranked No. 2 in the nation by Amateur Wrestling News, ran it's Final Four record to 22-0 overall and 7-0
against Easton.
Coach Jeff Buxton's squad defeated Nazareth 45-19 and Bishop Lynch of Texas 64-3 earlier in the day.
"This is quality event where we test ourselves every year," Buxton said. "Easton is another great
program, just like Nazareth. They're going to win a lot of matches with the talent in that lineup."
Senior Desmond Moore (25-2) got the Red Rovers off to a good start at 103 pounds, scoring a takedown with 33 seconds
left in overtime to earn a 5-3 decision over Blair's Tony Buxton, the coach's son.
Buxton was hit for three stalling points -- the third one with four seconds left -- to send the bout into overtime.
Chris Villalonga tied the score at 3-3 for the Buccaneers with a 5-2 decision over Kegan Handlovic at 112.
After state champ Jordan Oliver worked Garrett Frey for a 17-4 major decision at 119, Blair got back-to-back pins
from Joe Stanzione (125) and Kellen Russell (130).
And the No. 11-ranked Rovers (11-1) were left to play catch-up. Eric Burgey did his part by pinning Jesse Shanaman
with a cement job in 1:18 at 140.
Easton didn't win another bout as the Bucs reeled off victories in six of the final seven bouts -- including four
falls.
"Bonus points in big matches are always the difference," Powell said.
Top-ranked Mario Mason (24-0) began Blair's run with a 7-3 decision over Colin Dailey at 145.
Eric Medina (152), Corey Peltier (171), Jared Platt (215) and Kyle Hanson (285) all collected pins for the Bucs
down the stretch.
Peltier, ranked 10th, countered a cement job by Easton's Joe Piro for a pin in 1:19, clinching the match with three
bouts left.
Piro (21-7) used a cement job for a pair of first-period pins in wins over Bishop Lynch of Indiana (53-24) and
Hermiston of Oregon (42-25) earlier in the day.
"That's a move that you live with and die with," Powell said. "Joe knows that."
"We've practiced cement jobs quite a bit lately," Buxton said. "We know where Piro is and we know
what he likes to do. Corey was definitely prepared for it."
Cory Rutt gave the Red Rovers their final victory of the day -- a 3-1 decision over Reid Fliehr at 189.
Rutt (19-4) went 3-0 for the day, including a 3-2 win over Oregon state champ Troy Kessel of Hermiston.
"We saw some things here tonight that we'll learn from," Powell said. "Overall, we'll take a lot
of positives from this."
Brian Fortner can be reached at 800-360-3601 or by e-mail at sports@express-times.com.
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